Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Subjects in paleoclimatology : ICE AGES

Ice ages are periods in the Earth’s history when there are extensive ice sheets present in the northern and southern hemispheres. One might argue that we are still in an ice age that began 2.6 million years ago, as evidenced by the presence of ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica.

8 Cell, in Britain : MOBILE

What we mostly call a “cell phone” here in North America is more usually referred to as a “mobile phone” in Britain and Ireland. My favorite term for the device is used in Germany, where it is called a “Handy”.

14 Lose at a gaming table : CRAP OUT

“To crap out” is to make a losing roll on the first throw in a game of craps. A losing roll (aka “a crap”) is a roll of 2, 3 or 12.

If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. It may have been derived from an old English game called “hazard” also played with two dice, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.

16 Boxer who retired in 2017 : BARBARA

Barbara Boxer is a retired US Senator who represented California from 1993 through 2017. When elected in 1992, Boxer broke the record for the most popular votes in a US Senate election, receiving almost 7 million ballots.

18 Midcentury year : MML

In Roman numerals, MML (2050) is a midcentury year.

19 Popular U.K. tourist attraction : LONDON EYE

The London Eye is a very large Ferris wheel that sits right beside the River Thames in London. It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and was the tallest in the world when it was constructed in 1999. The London Eye is the most-visited paid tourist attraction in the whole country.

21 Trip guide : GPS

Global positioning system (GPS)

23 Outback predator : DINGO

The dingo is a wild dog of Australia. It is thought to have originated from domesticated dogs that were brought to Australia with humans that settled the land centuries ago.

24 Like shellfish : TREF

According to Jewish dietary law, kosher food is fit to eat, and food that is not fit to eat is referred to as treif (or “tref”). The usage of “kosher” has extended to include anything considered legitimate.

28 Vatican money, once : LIRE

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Vatican City before that state changed over to the euro in 2002.

Vatican City is a sovereign city-state that is walled off within the city of Rome. Vatican City is about 110 acres in area, and so is the smallest independent state in the world. With about 800 residents, it is also the smallest state in terms of population. Although the Holy See dates back to early Christianity, Vatican City only came into being in 1929. At that time, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed a treaty with the Holy See on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy that established the city-state.

33 Place next to a pulpit, often : AMEN CORNER

“Amen corner” is the name given to that location in a church where the congregation is particularly vocal in responding to the preacher. It’s a term that arose in Southern Baptist churches.

39 Eliza Doolittle, to Henry Higgins : TUTEE

Eliza Doolittle is Professor Henry Higgins’ speech student in George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. “Pygmalion” was adapted by Lerner and Loewe to become the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady”. The musical spun off the wonderful 1964 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. To cockney Eliza Doolittle, Professor Henry Higgins was “‘Enry ‘Iggins”.

40 It comes in cartridges : PRINTER INK

“Inkjet” is a very accurate and descriptive name for the type of printer. Printing is accomplished by shooting extremely fine jets of ink onto the page.

44 1980s spinoff of “The Dukes of Hazard” : ENOS

There appears to be a typo in this clue. The TV show was set in the fictional Georgia county of “Hazzard”, and not “Hazard”.

Enos Strate (played by Sonny Shroyer) was the small-town deputy in the television sitcom “The Dukes of Hazzard”, and the success of his character merited a follow-on show. The spin-off “Enos” only ran for 18 episodes though.

45 Everglades deposit : PEAT

Peat moss is actually sphagnum moss that has partially decayed and dried. The term “peat moss” is used as sphagnum moss is often found in peat bogs. Sphagnum moss has the ability to store large quantities of water, so the dried form is used by gardeners to condition soil, i.e. to increase the soil’s capacity to retain moisture.

The Everglades are a tropical wetlands that cover much of southern Florida. The area was named “River Glades” by a British surveyor in 1773, and is suggested that poor transcription of the word “river” led to the use of “ever”. The southern 20% of the Everglades is a protected region that we know as Everglades National Park. The park is the third-largest National Park in the lower 48 states, after Death Valley NP (the largest) and Yellowstone NP.

47 First name in children’s literature : ROALD

Roald Dahl’s name is Norwegian. Dahl’s parents were from Norway, although Dahl himself was Welsh. Dahl became one of the most successful authors of the twentieth century. Two of his most famous titles are “James and the Giant Peach” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

49 1947 Hope/Crosby film : ROAD TO RIO

“Road to Rio” is the fifth of the “Road” series of films that starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. “Road to Rio” was released in 1947. Crosby and Hope play vaudeville performers who stow away on an ocean liner bound for Rio. Lamour plays someone with a crooked guardian who is a fortune hunter, and who uses hypnosis to control the young woman.

52 Grp. with the motto “Deo vindice” : CSA

Confederate States of America (CSA)

55 Rural husband in a 1940s-’50s film series : PA KETTLE

The author Betty MacDonald wrote a memoir called “The Egg and I” that was published in 1945, telling the story of her life as a young wife on a chicken farm in Washington state. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1947, with the lovely Claudette Colbert playing Betty McDonald, and the great Fred MacMurray as her husband. Two other characters feature in the storyline, namely Ma and Pa Kettle. The latter characters were so well received by theater audiences that a whole series of films about them and their fifteen children was made between the years 1949 and 1957.

62 Advise : MENTOR

A mentor is a wise counselor, and the person receiving the advice is the mentee. In Greek mythology, Mentor was a friend to Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s “Odyssey”.

63 Rick who starred in “Little Shop of Horrors” : MORANIS

Rick Moranis is a Canadian actor who got his break with on the “Second City Television” show in the eighties. On the big screen, he is perhaps best known for his prominent roles in “Ghostbusters” and in the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” series of films.

Down

1 Titan or Atlas, for short : ICBM

An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with the range necessary to cross between continents. Being ballistic (unlike a cruise missile), an ICBM is guided during the initial launch phase, but later in flight just relies on thrust and gravity to arrive at its target. It is defined as intercontinental as it has a range greater than 3,500 miles. ICBMs are really only used for delivering nuclear warheads. Scary stuff …

Titan was a family of rockets first introduced in 1959. Titan rockets were used to launch man into space in the Gemini Program in the mid-sixties, and were also part of the American ICBM missile deterrent until the eighties.

Atlas boosters launched the first four US astronauts into space. The Atlas rocket design was originally developed in the late fifties and was deployed for several years as it was intended, as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

3 Blend flavored with bergamot : EARL GREY TEA

The Earl Grey blend of tea is supposedly named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey who was Prime Minister of the UK from 1830 to 1834. Earl Grey tea has a distinctive flavor that is largely due to the addition of oil from the rind of the bergamot orange.

4 Statewide call, maybe : APB

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

5 Things on a bucket list : GOALS

A “bucket list” is a list of things one wants to achieve before dying, before “kicking the bucket”. The expression hasn’t been used in this context for very long, only a decade or so, but was popularized by the 2007 film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

6 Coin with a map on its reverse : EURO

Euro coins are issued by all the participating European states. The reverse side is a common design used by all countries, whereas the obverse is a design specific to each nation. For example, the one euro coin issued by Malta features the Maltese Cross. That Maltese euro is legal tender right across the eurozone. The Irish euro features a harp.

7 Dog that often has shaved hindquarters : STANDARD POODLE

The standard poodle breed of dog is considered to be the second most intelligent breed, after the border collie. The name “poodle” comes from a Low German word meaning “to splash about”, reflecting the original use of the breed as a water retriever.

8 Metaphor for overnight success : METEOR

That would be a meteoric rise to fame.

9 Singer nicknamed “The Jezebel of Jazz” : O’DAY

“Anita O’Day” was the stage name of the jazz singer Anita Colton. She chose the name as “O’Day” is Pig Latin for “dough”, a slang term for “money”. O’Day had problems with heroin and alcohol addiction leading to erratic behavior, and earning her the nickname “The Jezebel of Jazz”.

10 Luxury hotel amenity : BIDET

“Bidet” is a French word that we imported into English. In French, the word “bidet” originally described a small horse or a pony. The bidet bathroom fixture was so called because one straddles it like a horse in order to use it.

11 Collector’s item? : IOU

I owe you (IOU)

13 Inexplicable skill : ESP

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

15 Band that composed the soundtrack for “Risky Business” : TANGERINE DREAM

“Risky Business” is a very entertaining 1983 romcom starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. This was an important movie for Cruise, as it really launched his film career. And, everyone remembers Cruise dancing in a pink dress shirt, briefs and socks to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll”. Great stuff …

17 “White Noise” novelist : DON DELILLO

Don DeLillo is a novelist and playwright from New York City. DeLillo first came to public attention with his 1985 novel “White Noise”. He followed that with a 1988 novel titled “Libra” that gives a fictional account of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, with a focus on Lee Harvey Oswald.

22 Parts of pounds : PENCE

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets.

25 Up to no good : RAISING CAIN

As Cain was the first murderer according the Bible, he is associated with evil or trouble. The idiom “raise Cain” is the equivalent of “raise Hell” and “raise the Devil”. In all cases, the meaning is to bring back evil or to cause trouble.

26 Phenomenon associated with the Southern Oscillation : EL NINO

When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more that half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

30 Job experience? : WOE

The story of “the patience of Job” is told in the Book of Job in the Bible. Job exhibits great patience in refusing to condemn God after Satan was allowed to destroy his family and property.

34 Three-time All-Star outfielder Lemon : CHET

Chet Lemon is a retired baseball player, who mainly played center field for the Chicago White Sox (1975-1981) and the Detroit Tigers (1982-1990). In his retirement, Chet lives in Florida and coached two youth teams, both called “Chet Lemon’s Juice”. Cute …

36 Liquefy, in a way : PUREE

A purée is a food that has been made smooth by straining or blending. “Purée” is a French term, which I believe is now used to mean “pea soup” (more completely written as “purée de pois”). The French verb “purer” means “to strain, clean”, from the Latin “purare” meaning “to purify, clean”.

38 Price abbr. : CTS

When writing an amount of money, the two digits to the right of the decimal point signify a number of cents (cts.).

46 River whose source is in Staffordshire : TRENT

The River Trent in England is one of the few rivers that flows north for much of its route. The Trent rises in Staffordshire and empties into the River Ouse in Yorkshire.

50 Comics canine : OTTO

Sgt. Snorkel (“Sarge”) is Beetle Bailey’s nemesis in the cartoon strip that bears his name. Snorkel has a dog called Otto that he dresses up to look just like himself. Otto started off as a regular dog, but artist Mort Walker decide to draw him more like his owner, and soon Otto became a big hit.

53 Assistant to millions : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

54 Army in the field? : ANTS

Army ants are a collection of over two hundred different species of ants. Each species is known for aggressively raiding a certain area en masse, foraging for food. Army ants also stay on the move, never building permanent nests.

55 Juice brand : POM

POM Wonderful is a privately-held company that has been making fruit juice drinks since 2002. The main product line is pomegranate juice, hence the company name.